


We Could Have Ruled the World

by FicObsessed4



Category: House of Cards (US TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 09:08:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16552949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FicObsessed4/pseuds/FicObsessed4
Summary: They were college roommates in the summer of 89'. University of Potamac they decided to attend, and boy were they exited. It was their first year being on their own and away from their parents and a sense of independence was exactly what they were craving.





	We Could Have Ruled the World

**Author's Note:**

> I thought it would be interesting to have a Annette/Claire story since the chemistry in season six was strong.

They were college roommates in the summer of 89'. University of Potamac they decided to attend, and boy were they exited. It was their first year being on their own and away from their parents and a sense of independence was exactly what they were craving. 

Claire was the shy one but that was to be expected. She never really had friends. 

"Silent and alone is how you stay out of trouble." Her mother used to tell her.

She hadn't seen it as a problem until she slowly developed depression, so she was more than happy to leave and have a fresh start.

On the other hand she was sad to have to leave her boyfriend behind.

Claire was dating, and still was, a guy named Frank Underwood before she left for college. She didn't agree with long distance relationships but he insisted so they agreed to stay together even if she was states away.

Annette on the other hand was... for a lack of better words, untamed. Everyone knew Annette back in Virginia. She had no trouble leaving such an wild reputation. 

It's safe to say the girls were total opposites.

It took about two weeks for Claire to finnally leave her shell and loosen up.

She was no Annette, but she definaltey wasn't closed off Claire anymore. 

It's what the boys and girls called her back home.

***

Not long after, Annette ended up dragging Claire to multiple party's throughout a one month spam. 

This is how the first problem emerged. 

After a month into school, Claire had lost her virginity to a one night stand. 

She was devastated. The following night she quietly cried to sleep in Annette's arms.

It was the first time the girls actually bonded. The first time Claire bonded with anyone really. She never let anyone see her cry but with Annette she felt different. She could express her emotions without being judged or put down. 

***  
Eventually the thrill of parties no longer excited them both and after a while they decided to focus more on their studies. 

Though Annette was trying to keep up she couldn't achieve anything higher than a B.

Claire on the other hand was an all A student, she always had been, and quickly she became one of the top students at Potamac. 

Annette envied how smart Claire was. Being a good looking girl wouldn't get you that far in life but if you had the brains, you could get anything you wanted, She thought. 

Later on to keep Annette from losing her scholarship, Claire started letting Annette copy her. 

This was when the second problem emerged. 

Eventually the teachers caught on and decided to call them both separately at different times during the day.

They pried for an answer off Annette for hours but couldn't manage to get one. She stuck to her story, which was, not knowing what they were talking about.

Claire on the other hand broke within a few minutes. 

They stripped Claire from the top students of Potamac and suspended her and Annete of their privelages. 

Up until that point Claire was always labeled as the good girl and questioned about why she hung out with Annette, now that was all starting to change. 

Claire was taken aback by how much she was changing. She didnt notice it until her professor pointed it out to her earlier that same day.

She blamed everything on Annette. She had never acted this way. She felt as if someone else was controlling her actions and she didnt have a say.

***  
Claire eventually stopped talking to Annette after their altercation and spent a week with Frank.

He was the closest thing to home for her at the moment. She eventually came clean about everything but still felt like she was a disappointment in his eyes. 

He wasn't hurt or suprised , he just wanted her to know everything was gonna be all right and it was for some time.

****

The week after she visited Frank and was back at the college she still wouldn't talk to Annette. 

Shes only bad luck she told herself.

It wasn't until the third week Annette had had enough.

"You cant ignore me forever Claire, we're roommates for christ sakes, People make mistakes and unfortunately this was mine. I'm sorry I wasn't careful enough." Annette cried.

Claire wanted to ignore her and walk out the room, but the old Claire stepped in instead. 

"That's all I wanted to hear.... a genuine apology. " 

Annette was deeply distraught and couldn't find the right words to say to Claire so she ran to her from the corner of the room and engulfed her in a hug.

Claire lightly smiled slowly and wrapped her arms around her.

This was home. 

****

September ninth 1987 Claire and Annette found themselves connected by a kiss.

It all started from a silly game of spin the bottle.

At first her and Annette were only landing on guys but then they landed on each other. 

They looked at each other only for a split second , but it felt like forever. It was as if they were convincing each other it was ok to be slightly intimate with the other.

Annette leaned in first and then Claire. Though it was only a peck, it was more sensual. They felt attached to each other.. as if they were meant to be. 

***

November second quickly came and Annette's lover had finally come clean about his infidelity and decided to go his separate own ways. 

She spent the whole day in their dorm room gulping down bottles of liquor and ignoring anyone who tried to talk to her... except Claire. 

Claire couldn't dare to see Annette loathing in self pity anymore so she decided she had to put it to an end.

"Let's go do something crazy." Claire told her.

"Like what?" Annete asked while wiping her tear stained eyes.

"It's a suprise." 

"Oh not right now Claire, I can't".

"I promise it'll be worth your while. "

Claire held out her hand. Annette looked the opposite way for a split second, to wipe her tears, then grabbed Claire's hand.

They ended up sneaking their way into an old light house. The girls couldn't stop laughing the whole time as they struggled to run up the stairs in the darkest of the night, they were blind with utter gratification. 

"I cant believe we're really up here." Annette said.

"It's amazing isn't it." 

"Absolutely."

"Definitely. "

"Positively." They shouted together before bursting out in wave of laughter.

Claire pulled out two bottles of beer and handed one to Annette.

"What should we cheers to?" Claire asked.

Annette hesitated for a moment searching for an answer.

"The start of a new chapter."

"Cheers to a new chapter in life!" They yelled together before sipping some of their drinks. 

They layed back on the concrete of the light house and stared into the open sky.

"One day we might just end up ruilling the world ya know."

"Imagine Claire Hale and Annette Shepherd posted on every billboard. "

"It would be a dream come true." 

It was silent for a minute or two .

"Thanks for all this, it was exactly what I needed." Annette said rolling over to face Claire.

Claire smiled and nodded her head.

"You were to good for him Annette, and one day he's gonna look back at what he did and spend the rest of his sorry life regretting it."

Annete leaned forward and placed her hand on Claire's. 

Claire intertwined her fingers with Annettes.

It was moments like these that nothing could compare to.

Soon they both moved closer and found themselves in a light make out session.

This was where they longed to stay and quickly enough the girls finally realized what they were missing all this time was....

Eachother. 

****  
Although they never discussed it, you could say the girls were in a relationship. 

They snuck kisses throughout the school in the hallway, in the library and during study hall. 

In dance class they would stay behind and dance to love songs together creating their own routines.

They finally felt complete. 

It was 6:15 in the afternoon one day and Annette wanted to surprise Claire with a gift.

They were sitting in their separate beds watching "The Golden Girls."

"I got ya something special, close your eyes." Annette said before running to her purse and pulling out a small box.

She walked back over to Claire and stood in front of her.

"Hold out your hand. "

Claire let out her hand and smiled.

Annette opened her small black box and placed a gold posy ring in her hand. Written on there rings were, till D, and inscribed on the rings were two hands, one heart, and a skull.

These "till death do us part posy rings were given to Annette by her great grandmother. 

"For when you find your special one." Her grandmother told her.

"Annette, there beautiful." 

"I wanted to give these to you, Claire Hale, because you are my special one."

Annete had slid her ring on quickly, and slowly slid Claire's up her hand as well.

"And you to me." Claire responded.

Annette smiled and kissed Claire.

Till death for sure..

****  
January 19th, 1990

The girls had gotten so caught up with each other that Claire had forgotten all about Frank.

She hadn't talked to him in weeks and frankly forgot he existed.

The only person in her world at the moment was Annette Shepherd. Her everything.

She wasn't comfortable keeping this up behind his back so she decided it was time to end things with him.

That was the final mistake.

Claire dialed Frank's number and told him everything. 

"Hello?"she said. 

"I was starting to think you'd forgotten about me."

"Of course not." She lied.

"How is everything up there. "

"It's going great..." she trailed off.

"You don't sound that convincing?"

"Francis, i'm in love with someone else and it hurts me to do this over the phone, it really does, but I have no other choice, and I'm sorry it has to end like this but i'm leaving you."

He was silent for a short period of time before speaking again.

"Who is he?" Frank asked.

"She....Annette." 

Frank had known Annette, of course ,from multiple conversations she was mentioned in from Claire. 

"You can not be serious, after everything she's done to you , you go and fall in love with her."

"I didn't go and do anything Francis,  
it wasn't by choice.... it just happened. "

"I will not allow this Claire!" He shouted.

"We are done and that is final." She said before hanging up the phone. 

It was done. She felt relieved. She could finally go on with her life with Annette by her side.

***  
Days later, Annette and Claire were dancing to LOVE by Nat King Cole.

"Hands out and twirl, twirl, twirl and kick." 

"And reverence." Claire said.

They both slowly bowed and came up with a smile. 

Claire twirled Annette with one hand in the air, then abruptly let go and caught Annette in her arms. 

"Your getting better at it, who have you been practicing on? " Annette asked smirking.

"Just a gorgeous gal I met a while ago."

"Mhm, what's her name?"Annette asked.

"Well it starts with an A." 

"And?"

"I'm looking right at her." Claire said before kissing Annette hard and letting her up.

The music faded in the background as everything else around them felt as if it was vanishing.

"Love was made for me and you......"

****  
January 29th 1990.

Dreams were crushed, futures were ruined, and hearts were broken. 

Frank had ,without warning, came up to the college that day and wasn't leaving without Claire. 

He had made his way to her and Annette's dorm room and started packing up Claire's things.

He was alone for half an hour before Claire made it back to her dorm.

He startled her.

"What on earth are you doing here!?" She yelled, putting her hand over her heart. She was frightened. 

"I need you Claire and you need me!" Frank spat.

"I already told you I'm with Annette, and its beyond ridiculous that you what.. pack my things and expect me to go with you."

She tried to grab something out of his hand but he dodged her hand and continued shoving her belongings in her suitcase.

"You don't have a choice Claire. "

She was frozen for a few seconds, she was shocked to say the least.

"Francis..."she said calmly.

"I will give you everything you want in life Claire, you want to be rich? Fine. You wanna live in a mansion, I can do that, you want kids for god's sake I can do that, but not this. Anything but this."

"But me and Annette..." she tried to continue but was cut off.

"You and Annette what? Love eachother, please, you wouldn't know what love is now if it hit you in the face. "

"I want you out of here now."

"What do you think your parents or anyone for that matter will say? If you think they'll accept you as a lesbian for one moment you've mistaken.

And he was right. Her parents would never accept her and Annette together, they probably wouldn't even talk to her agian. 

Let alone society itself wasn't so open to homosexuals so her and Annette would have to live their lives careful outside their home.

"All good things must come to an end Claire, and unfortunately for you this is one of those things."

She went to sit down on her bed and buried her face into her hands.

"There's no time for any of that Claire, if we leave today we can make it home by Friday morning."

She didn't move, and she didn't respond to him. She couldn't. Everything that she built up since the first day she met Annette was coming apart.

"A few weeks from now you'll be thanking me. Trust me Claire it's for the best... and I'm only doing this to help you."

Suddenly Annette walked in.

"Claire did you see... what's going on here?" Annette asked.

"She's coming with me and I'm taking her home, its already final. " Frank replied.

He picked up the final two bags of Claire's and placed them on her bed.

"Claire he's not serious is he?" She asked.

Claire stood up and grabbed one if her bags from her bed.

"I'm sorry Annette, its over. " she whispered. 

She didn't want to leave Annette, and she was trying to fight it with every fiber in her bone. But Francis was right and she and to leave. 

"I'll head to the car while you say your goodbyes." Frank said before taking her belongings and heading out the door.

"Claire after everything we've been through... i love you , don't do this."

Annette was tearing up now and trying her hardest not to show she was coming apart.

"I know." Claire said. Sadness was spread across her face as she stared Anette in the eye.

"Then don't leave." 

Annette grabbed Claire's hand lightly but she pulled back.

"I have no more love to give to you, so please don't make this harder than it already is." 

A few tears fell down Annette's face, but she quickly frisked them away.

"So that's it then? Its just over?" Anette asked.

"I guess it is." Claire made her way to the door.

"Did you forget about our dreams of ruiling the world? Huh? Fuck, Claire don't do this to me." She lightly shouted.

"That's all they were Annette.... dreams." 

Claire looked at Annette one last time before heading out the door.

She left silently and slowly. All she wanted to do was run back into their room, hug Annette, and never let go. But she couldn't. 

Claire made her way outside and stood in front of the college water fountain. 

She looked at her hand and took off the ring Annette gave her. 

"They were just dreams." She whispered to herself before throwing it in the fountain.

They were just dreams....

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. Happy reading!


End file.
